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My Gardening and Preserving Goals 2017

Each year I try to garden with a goal in mind. My goal is always to produce and preserve as much food as we need to get us through the winter and to help me spend as little as possible at the grocery store.

Last year I had some pretty lofty goals and fell completely flat on my face. It was a horrible growing season in 2016. Heat and drought took it’s toll on the garden and a late frost killed all of the blossoms on the fruit trees. I have never seen anything like it really.

I revisited my goals from last year and chopped some of the harder to reach goals out.

Here is a list of my family’s 2017 Gardening and Preserving Goals.

Herbs:

Garlic

Chives

Aloe Vera

Dill

Artemisia

Calendula

Chamomile

Cilantro

Purple Cone Flower (Echinacea)

Sweet Woodruff

Lavender

Lemon Balm

Mint

Catnip

Basil

Oregano

Parsley

Anise

Rosemary

Sage

Dandelion

Thyme

Nasturtium

Valerian

Crops:

Asparagus

Strawberries

Raspberries

Blackberries

Cherries Sweet

Cherries Sour

Pears

Peaches

Grapes

Rhubarb

Sweet Peppers

Banana Peppers

Eggplant

Onions

Shallots

Snap Bean Bush – Purple, yellow and green

Snap Bean Pole

Peas

Spinach

Lettuce

Cabbage

Swiss Chard

Beets

Radish

Carrots

Cucumbers

Pumpkins

Gourds

Winter Squash

Zucchini

Yellow Squash

Cantaloupes

Water Melon

Sunflowers

Tomatoes

Celery

Broccoli

Potatoes

Yellow Tomatoes

Paste Tomatoes

Preserving:

Strawberry Jam

Grape Jelly

Black Raspberry Jam

Red Raspberry Jam

Peach Jam

Pear Jelly

Apple Jelly

Honeyed Yellow Tomato Butter

Canned Cherries in Syrup

Canned Cherry Pie Filling Sweet

Canned Cherry Pie Filling Sour

Basil Banana Pepper Jelly

Apple Sauce

Grape Juice

Pear Juice

Tart Cherry Juice

Pickled Beets

Canned Beets

Vegetable Stock

Vegetable Soup

Tomato Sauce

Blackberry, Red Raspberry, Peach, Cherry Cordials

Chili Sauce (Two different kinds)

Bread and Butter Pickles

Frozen Corn

Frozen Peppers

Frozen Beet Greens/Chard

Red Root Relish

Lemon Sage Wine Mustard

Dilly Deans

Pickled Hot Peppers

Sweet Crisp Pickles

Crushed Tomatoes

Whole Tomatoes Packed in Water

Canned Green Beans

Frozen Peas

Frozen Winter Squash and some stored whole

Chili

Stuffed Hot Peppers

Stuffed Sweet Peppers

So far, we are already doing mighty fine with our 2017 gardening goals and we have had plenty of rain too. Yippee!

This last weekend we added 3 more raised veggie beds which brings my planting area to about 200 sq. ft. of space to work with. Yippee! Thank you Mr. Ripley for working so hard. (He said it was my Mother’s Day present).

To date we have planted carrots, peas, radish, and lettuce but much more will be planted by the end of this week.

How will I keep track of all of this? My journal. And lists. LOTS of lists. Should be interesting! Wish me luck and I will keep you updated. -MM

good luck with the list ^^
our weather has been seriously unkind after really warm temps we had below freezing last week and our tomato plants all died of frostbite (despite being in the greenhouse) and several of our fruit trees in orchard have suffered. Hubbie has bought more tomato plants, but we’re going to keep them indoors until mid-May now !

Oh no Claire that’s heartbreaking when that happens. We don’t put cold intolerant plants out until Memorial Day. We have had frost up to the middle to May before. Right now I am planting cold weather crops.